3—The Paradoxical Problem 

There is much information available that will get things moving in a better direction. EXCEPT, it seems those who are writing the books, the most knowledgeable, are doing exactly that, writing, and not working with the clients as their careers have blossomed. And, individuals that need this information the most, are working in the fields/units have no time to find this information, let alone research and glean off what is necessary to make those improvements, and put a plan together. Not only that, but reading and understanding the information is only one aspect, next is transferring that information into a ‘supportive’ work environment that encourages change rather then frowning on it.

Have you ever been inpatient? Imagine this! You are standing on the ‘wrong’ side of the Red Line. You hear someone yell, “Step back away from the Red Line!” You look around, and no one else is where you are standing. You figure this staff person is demanding this from you. You are not used to being spoken to in such condescending tones. You feel heat on the back of your neck, and react, “Or what?” Then comes the demeaning response, “or you will go into seclusion and restraints!” That happened to me. Since I was bullied and abused as a child, those same dynamics were awakened and this staffer was clueless. Those dynamics inspired me to fight back as a child, to get beyond the bullies and become successful. However, here stood the bully again because he did not have the training to be a healer. I could not leave the situation because the door was locked. And, I would not respond to this type of communication. I did not move, not with his derogatory voice. Instead, I and was drugged and strapped to a bed. How many resources did that take up? Consider the following healing response. First use empathic body language, “Your safety is important to us. Really, it is! Come on this way,” with an inviting smile. With some coaching, the drugs and restraints would have been avoided, and a therapeutic alliance would have developed further toward treatment compliance. Instead, treatment was set back with hatred and resistance. The difference? Empathy, insight and skills acquired through training. The question is, do we use the resources in training to heal on the front end (positive), or to clean up the mess at the back end (negative). Either way, the resources are spent. The difference is, will the resources be spent positively or negatively?

Knowledge, support, encouragement and team moral for a job well done. It’s not enough to have the knowledge. It takes a coach! Someone to come up with new cutting-edge game plans, to review current strategy, to build the excitement of employing effective tools and getting acknowledgement and validation from team members.

This type of oversight sets up quality compliance rather than performance improvement. In the service business, the preponderance is on the latter. The distinction is important because rigid quality standards reflect heavily in manufacturing products, whereas, performance improvement reflects human service standards toward excellence. Although, quality compliance is a component for performance improvement, it can jeopardize service delivery when the task of endless signatures and documentation control interfere with the actual service. For example, I recall a time during an inpatient admit when a nurse was checking off her initials on blank forms from the top to the bottom of the page. She did one page after another. Finally I asked, “What are you signing off on?” She said, “I’m signing off on the signatures that will be added later. I hate doing this.” In effect, we have a nurse signing off on paperwork BEFORE the tasks were performed. The equivalent would be signing a blank check. Cont next page...